Andrew's Space

I just read Mike's entry entitled 'The End of an Era'.  I do mourn Mike's loss of his Cobra but I know eventually he'll have that dream car.  All is not lost, he gave up his dream car for other dreams, perhaps more important.  In any case, I too, am giving up my sports car (again).  This time it was of my own volition instead of being forced upon me by a woman.  Women like sports cars when you first meet you but eventually it gets in the way in their natural desire to want babies... But I digress.  I've decided to turn in my Z4 convertible for dare I say it - Something more practical.  I'm going back to an automatic 3-series sedan to help me deal with the stop and go traffic of South Florida.  I admit my sacrifice is not near as big as Mike's and what I am losing in power, I'm gaining in tech gadgets.  I just went ordered it yesterday so pictures are forthcoming.

 

2006 BMW 330i sedan (4 door)
Exterior: Titanium Silver Metallic
Interior: Gray w/Dakota Leather Upholstery with wood trim (Poplar Natural Wood)
STEPTRONIC Automatic Transmission
Premium Package - power seats with memory and lots of other goodies

 - Bluetooth integrated into the stereo.  When you get a call, caller id flashes on the radio display and you answer by hitting the phone button.  No need to dig your cell phone out of your pocket - very cool
Comfort Access (keyless access to opening car doors and starting the engine - also very cool)

Sirius Satellite radio

 

 

I am writing this entry from Barnes and Noble in Boca Raton, just north of where I live in Deerfield Beach.  My place has been out of power since 6am when Wilma roared into South Florida.  I had no radio, no tv, no electricity during the storm so I had no idea how hard hit we were going to be.  I had internet access over my phone but it did not provide detailed local information.  The second half of the hurricane was quite ferocious, knocking over my grill on my porch even though that area is heavily sheltered by neighboring buildings.  Jasmin and I ran out to the porch, unhooking the propane tank first, then we carried the grill inside.  I had planned on moving the grill to the garage as I did before every previous hurricane but I thought I had enough time in the morning.  It seems that I'm not alone in underestimating this hurricane.

 

After the hurricane, we took a walk around the neighborhood to check out the damage and it was definitely the most severe of all of the hurricanes so far.  There were downed trees on cars, buildings and hanging from power lines.  We saw many rigid structures such as rought iron fences bent.  It has been nearly a week without power but thankfully the weather has been gorgeous and the area is slowly coming back online.  Lines for gas stations are getting smaller, stores are opening, and it is almost back to life as usual.  Jas and I retreated for a couple of days to Plant City to stay in my late grandmother's vacant house.  That is, until the mall opened and Jasmin was called to duty.  That's retail for you.  My work buildings are closed because they have no power and will likely not open until mid to late next week.  I've heard that the parking lot is a total mess and there is no room to park due to the debris. 

 

At least we were able to buy some basic supplies to make life easier without electricity while we were up in Plant City.  I now have a battery operated B&W television/radio, lots of 'D' batteries, a camping lantern that lights up an entire room at night, and a car electrical adapter so I can charge my cell phone and laptop.  Now I'm prepared for the next one as well ;-)

 

(See hurricane photos in the photo album)

Edin is visiting for a little while since New Orleans isn't the most inhabitable place in recent weeks.  We decided to venture up to Peanut Island in W. Palm Beach this afternoon to do some snorkeling.  The water was fairly clear at first and I got a chance to use my underwater camera casing for my digital camera.  With the visibility so low, I had to get really closefor a clear picture.  I think a few of them came out pretty good.  Too bad I didn't get a full shot of the enormous barracuda that scared the crap out of us!  Check out the photos in the Peanut Island album... enjoy

Some dumbass backed into me at the grocery store... not motivated to talk about it right now.

 

 

Like my friend Mike, I downloaded Google Talk as well to try it out.  Initially, I didn't like it.  It certainly lacked the advanced features of yahoo and msn messenger.  It even lacks basic features such as changing the font characteristics. 

 

Google Talk does have some simple, unique features as well.  If you are having multiple conversations, it groups them as one window.  All of the convos are stacked and when you click on one convo it collapses the others.  It also has message notifications when your chat window does not have focus.  This is similar to msn messenger when the first incoming IM from a buddy popus up from the tray.  Instead, every IM pops up as long as your IM window does not have focus.  In the end I found this feature extremely annoying and turned it off. 

 

Good or bad, if you have gmail and are using the gmail notifier program, then you might as well replace it with google talk.

Today I ran the table on one game of nine ball.  I haven't had much to brag about in pool lately, Brett is up six games for the month and I've been sucking hard core.  However, today I ran the table, hitting all nine balls in without relinquishing my turn.  First, I hit 2 in on the break then ran the rest until i sunk the nine for an easy straight in shot at the end.